Shift/Tranmission Issues

crash · Post by **crash** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 12:34 pm

Wondering if anyone out there is having trouble with their boats not going into gear. We have hull #58, and it intermittently won't go into gear. It happens most often on a cold start, i.e. first time of the day you try to put the boat in gear, but has also happened after the motor has been running and boat in gear for some time. Creates some excitement when having backed out of the slip it won't go into forward (or reverse) or when entering the slip and it won't go into reverse. Usually several minutes of trying to shift forward or reverse with no results follows, then she drops into gear and of we go. Have measured the throw of the shift lever on the gearbox, and that seems to be right in the middle of the range its supposed to move. Can't tell for sure if it is the prop not opening...we are on the Chesapeake, and I won't put someone in the water to see if the prop is closed or open as the visibility is so poor. If anyone has had a similar issue or if anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them. Thanks, Pete

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 12:24 am

Peter,
Sorry to say, it sounds like one of those "if you have to ask here, you should really ask a mechanic to look at it" things. Three things on these engines are not to be fixed by amateurs, and the clutch is one of them.

[Posted by: Dan Grossman
]

crash · Post by **crash** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 8:01 pm

Dan,
Have had the Yanmar guy down to look at it several times. Unfortunately, it doesn't happen consistently enough for it to have occurred while he is looking at it.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Nov 12, 2005 9:09 pm

Peter,
Problems that don't show up for the mechanic are always the worst.

Now that I think of it, we had one incident this season which sounds like what you're talking about. Clutch/throttle lever would't move more than a few degrees in one direction? It seemed to be sensitive to position of something, like gears that don't mesh. Which seems strange, considering that the clutch mechanism is quite simple. Since the problem didn't recur, we didn't pursue it further.

Hope you and the mechanic figure it out (and tell the rest of us).
Dan

[Posted by: Dan Grossman
]

crash · Post by **crash** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 4:02 pm

Well, we think we may have the answer finally. After much troubleshooting, talking to reps (Flex-o-Fold, Customer service at J-Boats and TPI), and doing some more troubleshooting, I have come to the conclusion that the issue is not the transmission failing to "go into gear", but rather that the prop is not opening. I was able to replicate the condition pier-side one day, so I disconnected the shift cable and manually shifted the transmission lever on the side of the trans itself by hand. I could definitely feel the transmission engage, in both forward and reverse, but once I climbed out of the "garage" and looked over the side, there was no prop wash. Then after 5 mins or so of this, as it went into gear, there was a louder thunk and the whole engine/transmission "torqued" over about 15 degrees and came back upright. Sure enough, now there was prop wash. With each subsequent shift, the transmission/engine would torque over. So that seemed to confirm to me that the issue was indeed the prop failing to open. Seems the early boats (up to Hull 58...mine) came with a BRISKI prop. There were some incidents of this prop not opening on other early boats, so from hull 59 and later, J-Boats changed to the Flex-o-Fold prop. My dealer has gotten a new prop for me, and I will be putting it on soon. Will let everyone know how it works.

Pete

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 6:46 pm

I have J 109 # 30. McMichaels Yacht Yard informed me that Yanmar requires that the outdrive gasket get replaced every 2-4 years. Yanmar encourages people not to neglect this issue as if the gasket fails flooding into the boat will occur. To perform this task the engine has to be lifted to gain access to the gasket (therby requiring the area around the outdrive to be opened up). It took 18 hours of labor to complete this task with an additional $ 500 apprx in parts. Very expensive.

[Posted by: Paul Steinborn
]